Chocolate Covered Strawberries
by Katseester
Summary: [Oneshot][IchiRuki]Rukia didn’t even notice how wet she was as her skirt and shirt clung to her petite body.  All she knew was that she was alone with Ichigo, trapped in a rainstorm under a dripping tree.  And she was loving every minute of it. Mild Fluff


**Okay...this plot line came to mind while i was trying to sleep the other day, and I knew I had to get it down on paper before i forgot it, so I did. This is the result.**

**But, again, my fingers didn't want to seem to stop, so i made it twice as long as I intended...and it sort of seems like they have some mood swings. But, it's almost 1 o'clock in the morning, and I just want to get to get, so I'm going to finish editing this.**

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Rukia stared intensely at the pot on the stove. Inside of it was a bubbling, brown, sludgy liquid. 

"I think the chocolate is done melting, Yuzu," she called to the younger girl. Yuzu stopped cutting the leaves off of the strawberries and placed her knife on the cutting board. She walked over to the stove and inspected the chocolate.

"Just a few more minutes, Rukia-chan," Yuzu said, sticking a wooden spoon in the chocolate a bit. "It just needs to sit and thicken a bit." She reached over the stove and turned the element off, then gave the wooden spoon to Rukia. "If you think it's getting too set, stir it and then bring it over to the counter." Rukia nodded and placed the spoon on the counter beside the stove.

Suddenly Karin ran into the kitchen, looking slightly out of breath.

"He's—coming. I couldn't—stop him!" She gasped. Yuzu looked at Rukia in alarm.

"We have to get him to stay out of the kitchen," Rukia whispered.

"You do it," Yuzu whispered back. "He never listens to me."

"Why are you whispering?" Karin asked them, slightly suspicious.

"It's nothing," Rukia assured her. "We just thought it was appropriate for the situation." Karin looked at her quizzically.

Yuzu started to clean up the slight mess that they had made and Karin stirred the chocolate a bit. Then she looked at Rukia.

"You need to distract Ichigo," she said.

"I know," Rukia replied, panicking slightly. "But I don't know what to do."

Karin walked over to Rukia. "You need to make sure he doesn't come into this kitchen. Do whatever you need to."

Rukia thought for a moment. "I'm still blank," she stated.

"Well, please try to think of something," Karin said. "We need Ichigo out of this kitchen! He won't listen to us, but he might listen to you."

"Got it," Rukia said. She turned and walked out of the kitchen and to the front door.

Outside, the air was cool and crisp. Rukia took a moment to enjoy the freshness, then remembered her task.

Stepping onto the sidewalk, Rukia instantly saw Ichigo walking towards the house, courtesy of his orange hair. His head was down and he was wearing earphones, listening to music. Rukia ran towards him and skidded to a stop about five feet in front of him. Too engrossed by his music, he didn't notice Rukia until he almost ran into her.

Ichigo looked up, an annoyed face on his look.

"Hey, watch where you're going," he said, scowling. Then he realized it was Rukia. "Oh, hey Rukia. What are you doing? I almost walked right over you." He took his earphones out of his ears and placed them around in his jacket pocket.

Rukia thought over her answer for a moment and decided it might work.

"Oh, Ichigo! I saw the most amazing thing in a magazine today! There's a huge sale on Chappie merchandise at the mall today! Could you please take me?" Rukia begged. She thought she sounded a little over-dramatic.

Ichigo gave her an annoyed look. "No, Rukia, I won't take you. You already have enough of that stupid rabbit's stuff. You don't need any more."

Rukia gave him a swift kick in the shin. "Don't ever insult Chappie!" She shouted. Her anger was both fake and genuine.

"Well, I'm still not taking you," Ichigo said, rubbing his shin. "You can go on your own if you want. I've got tons of homework to do anyways."

Rukia started panicking again. If Ichigo got into that kitchen, he would see, and it would be ruined…

Ichigo gently pushed past Rukia and started walking again, putting his earphones in his ears. Desperate, Rukia grabbed the cord, causing the earphones to yank back Ichigo's head before being pulled out, and making his iPod to fly out of his pocket. It landed on the sidewalk with a dull thud. He turned around slowly, an angry look on his face.

"What on Earth do you think you are doing, Rukia?" He asked her in a dangerously low voice. "That better not be broken. I paid a lot of money for it."

Rukia looked at him guiltily. She didn't mean for it to come out of his pocket! And if it _was_ broken, then she was dead.

Before Ichigo could bend down and grab his iPod, Rukia had swooped down and picked it up. She examined it for a moment.

"It doesn't look broken. How does it work?" She asked, truly perplexed. Ichigo sighed and took it from her hand, and placed his earphones in her ears. Rukia tried to ignore the fact that they had been in _his_ ears only moments before.

Rukia watched as he clicked it a bit, and then swirled his finger in a circle a few times. A second later screamo music blared into her ear at an earsplitting level. Rukia grabbed her head.

"Make it go away!" She shouted. Ichigo took the earphones out of her ear and turned his iPod off, placing it in his pocket.

Deciding that she had bought enough time, Rukia allowed Ichigo to walk on, keeping up his pace. They were twenty feet away from Ichigo's house, and Rukia only hoped that Yuzu and Karin—well, Yuzu mainly—were done or at least finishing up.

The dark clouds overhead started to swirl a bit. Suddenly Rukia saw a flash, then heard a crash, before she and Ichigo both got soaked by an unrelenting rainfall.

Ichigo looked up at the clouds, and then at Rukia, his face giving her an "oh great" look. He grabbed Rukia's arm and pulled her to a bench underneath a tree. Rukia didn't even notice how wet she was as her skirt and shirt clung to her petite body. All she knew was that she was alone with Ichigo, trapped in a rainstorm under a dripping tree. And she was loving every minute of it.

Rukia sat on the bench and hugged herself, shivering slightly. Ichigo sat down beside her, placing his not-so-dry jacket over her shoulders. She looked at him inquiringly, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"You looked cold so I though I could do something to help. I know it's not that great because it's wet, but it's better than nothing, right?"

Rukia just nodded and looked at her feet, a slight blush tingeing her cheeks. She knew Ichigo could be thoughtful and nice, at times, but that was rare. And Ichigo barely seemed in the mood for it.

"How long will this rain last?" Rukia finally asked.

"Thunder storms don't usually last long, but this one might," Ichigo answered. "It doesn't look like the rain is letting up any time soon."

"I don't mind," Rukia mumbled, shifting closer to him on the bench. Ichigo looked at her.

"Me either," he muttered. Rukia moved closer until she was right next to him, but he didn't seem to mind. She leaned her head on his shoulder. They were both oblivious to the dripping rain. Rukia was blushing, and she was sure Ichigo was too.

As much as she hated to admit it to herself, Rukia found that she had, somewhere along the line, fallen in love with Ichigo. She didn't know how, because she still thought he was an arrogant fool at times. But whenever she looked at him her heartbeat quickened and her breath caught in her throat, even when she saw him first thing in the morning before going to school. She loved everything about him. She loved his face, his perfectly chiseled body, his hands, his feet, his arms, his legs, and especially his hair. She just wanted to know what it felt like to run her hands through that mess of orange, down his neck, his back, his—no. She mustn't go there.

Long story short, Rukia just loved Ichigo. She never admitted it to him though. _As if _she was stupid enough to do that! But she wrote it down. Yes, she wrote it down numerous times in her diary. She just hoped that Ichigo never found it.

"Rukia?" Ichigo's voice cut through her thoughts.

"Hmm?" She mumbled, not quite back to the real world, still thinking about Ichigo.

"Are you okay? You seemed kinda zoned out. And your face had a funny look on it," Ichigo stated.

"Oh, it was nothing," Rukia said, smiling slightly. "Just thinking."

"'Bout what?" Ichigo asked.

"Y—" Rukia cut herself off. "Just random things," she covered up, hoping Ichigo didn't notice. She mentally kicked herself for almost saying "you".

Rukia yawned. "The rain makes me tired," she stated. She looked over at Ichigo, and realized her mistake by looking at his face. He was looking down and his knees, his brow furrowed and his jaw set.

"Oh, Ichigo, I'm so sorry," Rukia whispered. "I didn't mean to…I mean…"

Ichigo looked at her and placed a finger to her lips. The sorrow in his eyes told her the story of his mother's death.

"It's okay," he reassured her, trying to smile. "I'm sorry I had to ruin this for you."

"You didn't ruin anything," Rukia said, pushing his finger away. His hand felt rough. "And you shouldn't be sorry. You'll think of her one day without pain, and you'll be happy that you weren't sorry about your sorrow."

"But right now I need to be sorry, because I'm making you sad, Rukia. I don't want to make you sad."

"I'm not sad," Rukia stated, looking at him. "Just concerned. For you." Ichigo looked at her, surprised. Then he looked away.

"The rain is slowing down. We should head back to the house." He stood up and held out his hand for Rukia. She took it and stood also. They stood there for a moment, her hand in his, until he cleared his throat and withdrew his hand. Rukia let him.

By then, the rain had totally stopped. Rukia and Ichigo made their way down the street as the last dying rays of the sun broke through the clouds.

Just as they came into view of Ichigo's house, Rukia's toe made connection with the ledge of the uneven sidewalk, just as her other foot slipped through a puddle as she was raising it. Rukia lost balance and grabbed Ichigo's arm for support. His other arm wrapped around her waist as she fell, and she was surprised as she was stopped from hitting the cold, wet, hard pavement below.

"Thanks," she said, slightly breathless.

"No problem," Ichigo grinned. He pulled her back up, but pulled a bit too hard because before she could object, Rukia's lips connected with Ichigo's. His hand ran through her hair. She gave a muffled cry of objection, and Ichigo immediately released her.

Rukia tidied her hair and brushed off her wet skirt.

"I'm sorry," Ichigo apologized, looking down. "I didn't mean to…I just got carried away."

Rukia placed her fingers under his chin and lifted his head up. He gazed at her with guilty eyes.

"It's okay," she consoled, giving him a small smile. "Everyone gets carried away once in a while."

Ichigo took her hand from under his chin and held it in both of his, close to her chest.

"You don't understand," he pleaded. "When I did that…I felt like I wanted to. I actually wanted to kiss you back there, Rukia."

"And I wanted nothing more than for you to kiss me, Ichigo," Rukia replied. Ichigo's amber eyes widened as he looked at her incredulously. Rukia stared back at him.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Ichigo placed one hand at the small of Rukia's back and the other in the middle as he pulled her closer. Rukia wrapped her arms around his neck and ran one hand through his hair like she had always wanted to do.

Ichigo closed the small gap between them as he placed his lips on hers. Rukia never thought that kissing Ichigo would feel this wonderful, but it did.

Finally they parted.

Then Rukia remembered something.

"Oh….no…..Yuzu and Karin are waiting!" Rukia exclaimed. Ichigo looked at her quizzically. "Just follow me." She grabbed his hand and dragged him along behind her.

She opened the door, to find Isshin waiting for them. He was holding a napkin and dabbing his eyes with it.

"My little Ichigo is growing up! How sad!" He wailed.

"Dad, shut up!" Ichigo said, pushing past him.

"I saw everything Ichigo!" Isshin called after him.

"Right," Ichigo muttered.

Upon entering the kitchen, Ichigo caught sight of twenty, large, chocolate covered strawberries on a plate.

"What the—" he started, but was cut off.

"It's for you, Ichigo," Rukia said. "Because I wanted to tell you how special you are to me."

Yuzu and Karin were sitting at the table.

"Is this why you started harassing me, Rukia?" He asked her.

"Mhmm," Yuzu answered for him. "You wouldn't listen to Karin, so we sent out Rukia to distract you. And it worked, considering you guys got all romantic."

Rukia looked at Ichigo, who was looking at her. They both blushed.

Ichigo walked over to the strawberries and popped one in his mouth.

"Not bad," he said through his mouthful. Rukia walked over to him.

After he had swallowed he pulled Rukia in for another kiss.

"You taste like chocolate and strawberries," she stated.

"That's nice to know," he replied.

"Go somewhere else! You two are making me sick!" Karin shouted before running out of the kitchen.

Ichigo ignored her and popped another strawberry into his mouth.

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**I hope you liked it! If there were any errors, I don't really care if you tell me, cuz im almost sleeping on my feet right now, so it doesn't matter. **

**Tenfold Defiance**


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